Baby weekender: Restaurant high chairs

Restaurant high chairs are notorious for having broken safety restraints and other defects. They can be dirty too, since chances are the chair you plop your toddler into hasn’t been cleaned since the last child used it.

One option: Bring your own portable hook-on chair (keep one in the trunk of your car). The JPMA currently certifies four brands of hook-on chairs: The Graco Travel Lite Table Chair, which retails for around $34.99, Chicco’s Caddy Hook-On high chair ($30), the Dorel Eddie Bauer Portable Hook-On Chair, ($39.99), and the Munchkin Feeding Friend Portable Hook-On Chair ($42.99). Consumer Reports has not tested them, however. Use one with a table top only, not with tablecloths or place mats.

If you do use the restaurant’s high chair, clean it with a baby wipe before putting your child in it. Clean his home high chair after every meal, too.

See our full report on high chairs for related information. And see our new baby book, Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, in our bookstore and in stores nationwide.

Comments

[Frequent Diner]

I definitely agree that all restaurants that cater to families should have clean high chairs. I just don't think all restaurants should have high chairs. Not all restaurants need to cater to families.

[Greg McGuire]

As a member of the restaurant industry, I agree with Ira: it's completely unacceptable for restaurants to have dirty high chairs or ones with broken safety straps, especially when those straps are so easy to replace. There's even less excuse for restaurants that don't have high chairs at all, especially when there are such an array of well-designed restaurant high chairs out there that match the decor and style of any establishment.

[Ira L]

That is a really good idea. I get so frustrated with dirty high chairs. Restaurants need to choose whether they want to be family friendly or not. If they do, they should provide clean high chairs like they provide clean tables. I have the hook on chair. It works great for those restaurants that just can't seem to do their job.